The Guido Mine was founded in 1855 by Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck and named after him. Its history is inextricably linked with coal mining in Upper Silesia. After World War II, the mine paled into insignificance; in the 1960s an experimental mine, which tested new equipment and mining machinery, was operating there. Currently, it is a branch of the Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze.

The underground (170 m below the surface) exhibition The Cult of Saint Barbara in Upper Silesia is aimed to familiarise the people of Silesia and those from other regions with issues concerning the Saint and her cult, as well as mining from the nineteenth century to the present day. The narrative of the exhibition covers four main thematic areas. The first one entitled work in the mine, located on the premises of original stables from the turn of the century, shows the reality of working underground and the accompanying sense of uncertainty and insecurity. Authentic exhibits were complemented with multimedia in the form of mapping enriched with naturalistic sound effects imitating noises from the stables and voices of people chatting.

The second zone, reason and faith, located in the so-called pump hall, revolves around the contrast between the elements of Silesian spirituality and the world of knowledge and technological progress represented by the mining machines. The main attraction of this space is three-dimensional mapping generated simultaneously by 3 projectors. The heart of the exhibition is the zone devoted to the cult of St. Barbara, a place where exhibits related to the cult of the patron saint and the Chapel of St. Barbara are being presented.

The fourth and final thematic area introduces the contemporary contexts associated with the Saint. The highlight of this part of the exhibition are audio stations making use of old telephones by which visitors are able to listen to miners’ stories in the receivers, as well as touch screens with multimedia presentations expanding information on the history of the mine and objects seen in the exposition.

Among the elements that we were working on are multimedia applications, film screenings, 3D mapping, and audio recordings. The exhibition has been opened 10 December 2015.

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“New Amsterdam Sp. z o.o. designed and implemented for our Museum the project under the name of ‘Preparing content for multimedia stations, including 1 application, 4 film projections, 1 3D mapping, as well as producing and editing one sound recording, and processing and editing 4 sound recordings provided by the Employer as part of a new tourist route in the Historical Coal Mine Guido in Zabrze’ (…). New Amsterdam Sp. z o.o. demonstrated their commitment and creative approach to the project, which was carried out timely and professionally. We can recommend the company as a solid and reliable partner”.

Bartłomiej Szewczyk
Director of the Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze